Sonnet 148
1. O me! what eyes hath love put in my head,
2. Which have no correspondence with true sight,
3. Or, if they have, where is my judgment fled,
4. That censures falsely what they see aright?
5. If that be fair whereon my false eyes dote,
6. What means the world to say it is not so?
7. If it be not, then love doth well denote,
8. Love's eye is not so true as all men's: no,
9. How can it? O how can love's eye be true,
10. That is so vex'd with watching and with tears?
11. No marvel then though I mistake my view,
12. The sun itself sees not, till heaven clears.
13. O cunning Love, with tears thou keep'st me blind,
14. Lest eyes well-seeing thy foul faults should find.
Love in Spite of the Crime
Dedication: To Elizabeth
Again reflecting on the incongruity of what he knows and sees and what is the true state of his son. Asking how his judgment could be so bad when he does not see what others see as ill (Henry). Asking how it could be that what his loving eye knows as true, must actually look on this falsity with distress and tears. Asking if these tears of his are making him blind to her foul deed.
1st Quatrain: (1-4)
The poet questions how he sees what he sees when he is told that what he gazes on is not "aright". This as seen previously is part of the poet's incomprehension of how the subject (and likely what is probably the Privy Counsel) has so unbelievably (in his eyes) decided that the child is a problem or worse and must be ignored at best.
2nd Quatrain: (5-8)
Dote in line 5 again is a clear clue of a baby. And again the poet questions in line 6 how this denial ("not so"), can possibly be. In line 8, the poet points out the incongruity of his truth versus what all other men see. For those unfamiliar with Edward de Vere, vere means truth in Latin and when he refers to "being true" it is also a pun on his very being in addition to it being a lie.
3rd Quatrain: (9-12)
Again the question of the distortion of sight this time “love’s” in line 9. Tears in line 10 are likely those of a crying baby. Line 12 is an early connection of Sun/son and also is evocative of what is heavenly and ties back to notion of seeing clearly as addressed in line 4.
couplet (13-14),
She makes him blind with now Oxford’s tears which prevents him from seeing her faults. Oxford points out Elizabeth’s crime with "thy foul faults" which will come to more elaboration in sonnets to come and which specifically refer to it as a crime.
Commentary:
The point of this sonnet is the anguish the poet expresses for what should be seen but is prevented by his own tears and this is clearly linked to what the poet loves. In contrast he explains to Elizabeth that well seeing eyes will see her “foul faults. Which is a foreshadowing of slanders of the “Dark Lady” to come. This sonnet bears a very close relationship to the preceding two sonnets of 150 and 149. Sonnet 150 deals with the poet’s sight and what he loves, 149 deals with the hate for his friend and what (who) he fawns on, and this sonnet again deals with his sight and what he dotes on. I would maintain as well that all deal with the “foul lie” of 152 and the “poor drudge” of 151.
Thus once again this poem is answering the forced denial which is expressed by the poet in being asked to literally reject what he sees. This sonnet as already mentioned expounds on the notion of the falseness of the poet’s sight corresponds to his disbelief of what he is being asked to believe. When he says in line 6, “What means the world to say it is not so?”, he is providing several important clues. First is that what he sees is different than what others apparently see and this discrepancy is related to that fact that others (“the world” in line 6) are either denying or unaware of the object of his sight. However once again it is not hyperbole for which the poet uses the world to refer to others. The importance of an heir to Queen Elizabeth was certainly of interest to the literal “world” that the poet had in mind. In addition there is also the hint of disapproval of what he sees with the “they ... that censures”.
His “true sight” in line 2 is the second usage of this phrase (the other line 3 of sonnet 150). This bares a strong relationship to line 12 of sonnet 152, “swearing against the truth so foul a lie”. Also in this sonnet the veracity of his sight is again reflected in the phrase “love’s eyes be true” of line 9 and line 14’s “eyes well seeing”. Thus the most import aspect of this and the other sonnets which express the poet’s sight being less than “true” is the insight that this is an expression of the cover-up undertaken to conceal Henry.
I hope it does not seem implausible to suggest that all these mentions in this sonnet and the proceeding sonnets of his sight might actually reflect something being concealed but in reality openly visible. While this might be labeled a conspiracy I prefer to view more as the intent of an omnipotent government insisting on the keeping of a very important state secret. I believe that this is an important contrast to the standard assertion of Stratfordians commenting on the implausibility of the conspiracy needed to conceal the authorship of Shakespeare’s cannon. Previously I demonstrated how I believe that this conspiracy was actually initiated by Oxford and brought on by the need to distance the name “Shakespeare” from any involvement with Henry’s concealment. I believe that there is independent evidence that Oxford initiated the creation of a front man in the guise of the Stratford man. This was likely important after the publication of Venus and Adonis, which was the initial usage of the name "Shake-Speare" in public. Oxford likely in an attempt to placate Elizabeth, initiated an effort to remove himself from association with the name Shakespeare. And while these poems were not published until 1609, I'm offering that these early examples were written in the early 1570s. Thus as well implying that usage of the name occurred well before V&A was published in 1593.
This sonnet also contains the first mention of the Sun as a metonym whose utility and power will be much more thoroughly explored in sonnets to come and culminate in sonnet 7. The tears of line 10 are an indication of the poet’s early anguish. The observation that addressing the subject in line 13 as “cunning Love”, is apt for a subject who masterminded a cover-up of a child born to her, especially given her public visibility and the need to have hid the pregnancy. Oxford was attracted to such women apparently because his other mistress Anne Vavasour achieved the same feat right under the nose of the Queen. This sonnet again contains more language referring to a baby i.e. “dote”. The usage of the sun in line 12 is yet another clue and will become a frequent usage as it plays of course on the homophonian nature of the two words and will become a much larger and more explored theme in sonnets to come. And the ending cleverly has both himself and Henry in tears.
Orthodox scholars have remarked on the importance of the sound and letter O in this sonnet. It should be no surprise given it was written by a man who referred to himself frequently as Edward Oxenford, and of course he was the 17th Earl of Oxford.
KDJ – claims that this sonnet continues from the end of 147 without any seeming justification. Other than the obvious reason that she believes 148 should follow 147 presumably.